She said “as a survivor, I am grateful for this opportunity to draw international attention to the plight of the Yazidi people, who have suffered unimaginable crimes” under Islamic State militants.

She said “we must work together with determination - to prove that genocidal campaigns will not only fail, but lead to accountability for the perpetrators and justice for the survivors.”

Murad also congratulated her co-winner, Dr. Denis Mukwege, “a man I admire greatly who has dedicated his life to helping women of sexual violence.”

The head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee says this year’s Nobel Peace winners were chosen to draw attention to the fact that “women are … actually used as weapons of war.”

Berit Reiss-Andersen said after announcing the prize that both laureates, Denis Mukwege of Congo and ethnic Yazidi Nadia Murad, had put their personal security at stake as activists on the issue.

Oyvind Sternersen, a Nobel historian, said “This is a Nobel bullseye; recognising victims of war has a long history in the peace prize.”

Murad has become a spokeswoman for Yazidi women abused by the Islamic State group.

Camera IconNadia Murad with human rights lawyer Amal Clooney at the UN Headquarters in New York City.Picture: AFP

New Iraqi President Barham Saleh hailed the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Murad, calling it “an honour for all Iraqis who fought terrorism and bigotry”.

In a tweet, Mr Saleh said he had spoken with Murad to congratulate her, saying the prize was “an acknowledgement of (the) tragic plight” of the religious minority and “recognition for her courage in defending human rights of victims of terror & sexual violence”.

Murad, the first Iraqi to become a Nobel peace laureate, was also congratulated by the country’s outgoing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his intended successor Adel Abdel Mahdi.

“I congratulate Iraq and the Iraqis. I congratulate the Yazidi brothers and sisters. I congratulate Nadia Murad for her award,” prime minister designate Mahdi wrote on Facebook.

In December 2015, she told the UN Security Council how she and thousands of other Yazidi women and girls were abducted, held in captivity and repeatedly raped after the Iraqi area of Sinjar fell to IS militants in August 2014.

She escaped after three months in captivity.

A year after most IS-held areas were retaken by Iraqi security forces, around 3000 Yazidi women and girls are still missing, most presumed dead.

At the age of 23, Murad was named the UN’s first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee says that Mukwege is “the foremost, most unifying symbol, both nationally and internationally, of the struggle to end sexual violence in war and armed conflicts.”

Camera IconDenis Mukwege shakes hands with Baba Sheik Khurto Hajji Ismail in the heart of Lalish temple in a valley near Dohuk, northwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.Picture: AFP

Mukwege and his team have treated thousands of patients who have been raped or sexually abused in Congo’s long civil war.

“The importance of Dr. Mukwege’s enduring, dedicated and selfless efforts in this field cannot be overstated. He has repeatedly condemned impunity for mass rape and criticised the Congolese government and other countries for not doing enough to stop the use of sexual violence against women as a strategy and weapon of war,” the committee said in its citation Friday.